“You make me want to live again, to fight the darkness,” he’d said one night as they lay tangled together on the bed. “For the first time in centuries, I feel like I have something to live for.”
Amir popped in and out periodically as he did recon, looking for a better place for Luc and Katia to hide. Finding a coven of witches capable of the wards and spells they needed to stay hidden was a challenge. B was a frequent visitor, regaling them with dirty jokes and ribald stories of his various conquests. Katia couldn’t help but feel a special warmth for B. He'd saved her best friend after all.
Katia smiled to herself as she walked into the bedroom she shared with Luc. She flicked the door closed behind herself. Time for a shower. Katia twisted her hair up into a rough bun, headed to the adjoining bathroom and turned the knob on the shower. Hot water rained down, and Katia sighed in anticipation. She stripped off her clothes, tossing them through the partially open bathroom door. The hot steam swirled around the room and fogged up the mirror above the sink. It felt divine against her exposed skin. Katia stepped into the stream of water, a noise of appreciation for the steady flow leaving her lips. As she soaped her body her mind began to wander.
Katia smiled as images of Luc popped into her head. Laughing, talking...sex...lots of sex...great sex. Luc was out with Amir, but he’d be returning soon. She couldn’t wait for him to get back. Katia shook her head in disbelief. How was this her life?
She shook her head, smiling. As the soap slid over her body, Katia closed her eyes and imagined it was Luc running his hands over her. Every time they were together she absorbed a little bit more of the darkness that was poisoning him, taking it into herself, and somehow destroying it. Sighing, she ran her hands up her body, covering her breasts with the slick bubbles, feeling her nipples harden at the direction of her thoughts. Stepping directly under the stream, Katia allowed the water to wash the bubbles away.
Reaching down, she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a fluffy white towel off the bar along the wall. She wrapped the towel around herself, tucking the edge under her arm to secure it. Katia turned to face the mirror and reached out to wipe the steam away with the palm of her hand. The image reflected in the streaked glass wasn’t her own. She shrieked and jumped back, slamming into the wall behind her hard enough to knock a picture down. Glass shattered as it hit the floor, razor sharp shards skidding across the tiles.
Katia's breath sawed in and out as she stared at the face in the mirror. Bruises mottled the pale skin, one eye was swollen half-shut and a mass of cuts decorated pale cheeks. A hunk of tangled black hair fell from a ghostly brow, covering the other eye. An angry red welt circled a thin neck as though a garrote had been tightened to the point of death before being released. Unable to tear her eyes away, Katia watched as a pale hand raised up and touched the glass from the other side. Drawn by a force beyond her comprehension, Katia stepped toward the mirror, glass crunched beneath her bare feet. She cried out in pain, but couldn’t stop walking until she was directly in front of the mirror. Katia raised her hand, operating on auto-pilot. As her palm met her brother's, she felt a coldness sweep up her arm and move through her body.
Katia sobbed in despair — her brother was being tortured. He brushed the hair away from his eyes and looked at her with misery in their depths.
“Who did this to you? Where are you?” she cried out, desperate to do something to stop his pain.
Her brother’s mouth began to work but she couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. Icy cold tears pricked her eyes as she groaned in frustration. “I can’t hear you!” Goosebumps rose on her skin as the cold began to take root. Her brother shook his head, his mouth moving once again. Focusing, Katia followed the motion of his lips. “You don’t know?” she asked. He shook his head in frustration. Katia’s thoughts went wild, desperately trying to come up with a way to pinpoint his location, suddenly an idea came to mind. “Are there any windows where you are?” He nodded. “What do you see when you look outside?” Her brother frowned for a moment before nodding. He raised his free hand and ran his fingertip through the blood dripping from one of the cuts on his cheek, raising his finger to show her.
“Blood?” Katia recoiled. How could that make sense? Her brother’s mouth moved once again. Deciphering it, Katia frowned in confusion. “A lake?” she asked. He nodded and mouthed the words again, then held up his finger that dripped in his own blood.
Katia swallowed hard and voiced her question quietly. “You see a lake of…blood?” When her brother nodded, Katia’s heart dropped.
Luc had told her stories about Halja. If her brother was being held there, she’d need the Devil’s own luck to get him out. As she gazed into her brother’s pain-filled eyes she made a decision. No matter what it took she would find a way to get him out of there. Sooner rather than later.
“I’m not going to leave you there. I’ll get you out…I promise.” Her voice shook as she stepped even closer to the mirror. Her brother's image began to fade, and Katia saw his mouth move once last time, the words breaking her heart. “Thank you.”
In the space of a moment, the only image reflected
